First ever shepherd's hut to feature at Chelsea Flower Show 2012

Shepherd's hut specialists Plankbridge appear to have pulled off a first - they claim their scaled-down hut which will appear in the Artisan Garden at Chelsea this year designed by Gold Medal-winners Adam and Jon from Woolcott and Smith will be the show's first ever shepherd's hut. The hut is being designed and built as we speak... The garden will feature "a tranquil wildflower garden, inspired by the beautiful Dorset countryside immortalised by Thomas Hardy in his novel ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’." The shepherd's hut will be placed on the banks of a stream in a water meadow.
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Autospace: A garden office for your car...

From ecospace comes Autospace, a rather smart shedlike atmosphere to showcase your car onto which you can then add a garden office. It comes with optional floor-to-ceiling glazing, security blinds, ambient lighting and electric roller shutters and doors. Amira Idris-Town, partner of Ecospace, says: “Certain cars become an iconic benchmark in automotive design, and we wanted to create a more appropriate solution where your car can be kept, enjoyed and admired. Whatever you drive, from a rare classic to the latest supercar, you need somewhere to keep your pride and joy safely and have convenient access it." Prices start from around £18,000 + VAT for a fully installed single bay AutoSpace measuring 6m x 3.4m x 2.8m, and includes natural materials and insulation as standard - the one illustrated costs £45,000 + VAT including premium birchwood interior, full height glazing, insulation and temperature control, workstation and storage systems, and electronic roller shutters.

While it's impressive, it's harder to see how it fits in with the eco credentials of ecospace though they do point out that the structure uses sustainable wood and cedar cladding from renewable, certified sources and is manufactured in the UK (and that it is designed to maximise energy efficiency with high insulation values through thick multi-layered floor, walls and roof).
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Wednesday posts are sponsored by The Stable Company®, the UK's premier supplier of garden offices and garden rooms. Click here.

Go to work in a Hobbit hole

Here's a rather attractive shedlike atmosphere with a twist. Based in Maine, Wooden Wonders supplies bespoke garden offices (and indeed chicken coops) with a Hobbit hole feel. Shedworkers will be most interested in the cottage model, similar to their shed design but with a finished interior and insulation option. They come in 10' and 12' front width sizes with a 3' wide back door. Wooden Wonders are also on Facebook .

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Wednesday posts are sponsored by The Stable Company®, the UK's premier supplier of garden offices and garden rooms. Click here.

The future of the garden office industry

Richard Grace who runs Aarco, one of the longest established garden buildings businesses in the UK, has been ruminating on the future of the garden office and garden studio business on his blog. Here's a snippet:

"Probably driven by the continued doldrums in the building market overall the competition here remains fierce. This of course drives costs down and benefits clients, it keeps us all on our toes and maintains high quality service. Unfortunately the combined effect of increasing competition and cost pressures stresses some companies to breaking point and recently we have seen some competitors fail to make it through."

Well worth a look, especially if you are a supplier.

Cabin Porn

We're not big fans here at Shedworking of this recent-ish flurry of sites which focus on one subject (such as books) and then add 'porn' at the end for no real reason, but we'll make an exception for Cabin Porn which describes itself as "Inspiration for your quiet place somewhere" and is run by the people at Beaver Brook (itself an attractive Tumblr). You can even submit your own suggestions. Pictured above is the fabulous The Best Hut (The Tree Bach) by Jono Williams and friends in New Zealand, built out of recycled materials and featuring solar panels as well as, nice touch this, a remote-controlled drawbridge. Both sites are well worth a browse.
Thanks to Lloyd Alter for the alert.
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A Shed of One's Own

It's definitely the season for shed-related books. The latest out is Marcus Berkmann's A Shed Of One's Own: Midlife Without the Crisis published by Little, Brown. To be honest, it's not really about sheds though there is a strong shedlike philosophy running through it. Here's a snippet:

"If I had a garden, I would have a shed. Note that a shed doesn't have to be an actual shed. It can be a virtual shed: a room, an office, a corner of a room. Or it can be an internal shed..."

He goes on to talk about "directed idleness" which is also one of our favourite topics...

Greenhouses: Hartley Botanic

We often tend to overlook that lots of people who go to work in the garden actually work in the garden itself and that greenhouses are very much shedlike environments housing many thousands of shedworkers around the world. So we're starting a regularly irregular column looking at precisely these icons of microarchitecture, beginning today with one of the oldest players in the market, Hartley Botanic which was establised over 70 years ago who indeed say on their web site that: "Greenhouses and glasshouses are the artist's studio of the garden."

Their range covers four main models Clearspan, Kew, Landscape or Victorian Glasshouses (pictured top is The Grange with an attractive high, four-sided pyramid roof) as well as a bespoke service. We also rather like the simple yet elegant Cottage 6 greenhouse below.

There's also a nice section on accessories and in general it's an easy website to find your way around. Well worth a browse.
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